Michelin Primacy MXM4 Review

*sorry about double posting. I'm not sure how to make the info available to both GenIII and GenII owners*

I decided to junk my old Kumho Ecsta ASX tires and swap to a newer LRR tire from Michelin. My Kumhos were balding and becoming unsafe in wet weather. My new tire? The Michelin Primacy MXM4. It is a new tire even though the name may be confused with the Primacy MXV4. The new tire features a fairly high treadwear rating, excellent wet traction, and a decent price. It is designed for high end touring sedans like BMW and Mercedes but since I have 17" wheels it will work just fine for the Prius. The use of sunflower seed oil is a bonus for sustainability and for wet weather traction. For moe on the use of sunflower seed oil click HERE. So I went from an orange peel oil tire (dB Super E-Spec) to a sunflower seed oil tire. Go organic! lol



Michelin Primacy MXM4 (Grand Touring All-Season)
UTQG=500 AA A, 51psi, 10/32, 21lbs, 844 $132

My initial impression of the MXM4 tires (215/45/17) is they are VERY quiet and smooth riding. I drove for the first day at the Prius manufacture pressure spec (35/33?) and the ride was very comfortable and quiet. Compared to my old tires these things felt like riding in a Cadillac! Handling was solid and the car didn't feel wishy washy like it usually does at these "low" pressures. My MPG did not seem to change much but I driven very few miles on the first day but I did notice that they seem to roll much easier when gliding.

Today, I aired the tires up to 50/48psi just to see how they compared to the Kumhos.

Noise: The MXM4 is much quieter on than my Kumhos (even when new) and are nearly equal or even quieter than my dB Super E-Spec (185/65/15) tires. Over smooth surfaces and rough surfaces the tire is very quiet. The only time I notice them is when hitting expansion joints are potholes and even then they are much quieter than the Kumhos and especially the dB Super E-Spec which pings pretty hard on expansion joints. The noise increases as pressure goes up. If you want a smooth ride with very little tire noise I would suggest keeping them below 40psi. This is an excellent tire for folks who purchased the Prius V and want it to feel like a BMW.

Handling: The tires stick like glue. They are a little softer going into a corner than my worn Kumhos but they inspire much confidence when leaning hard and they made no fuse during the hard sweeping turns on various onramps. Keep in mind these tires are not broken in yet so traction should be less now than after break-in. Freeway attitude is smooth and the tires respond well to steering input. I will say that after airing them up to 50/28psi the car became more twitchy at freeway speeds. This condition requires more steering input that I don't particularly care for so after this test phase I will likely drop the pressure to the low 40s. I'll provide an update after a 1,000 miles or so.

Traction: It's rather hard to judge traction in a car that cannot spin the tires but in terms of lateral grip through corners the car is solid with nary a squeel when pressed hard into a corner. I have lowering springs on the car so I can take corners much faster than I could on stock springs yet these tires simply held without fuss.

Mileage: I cannot comment accurately on fuel mileage just yet because I still need to break the tires in and check my alignment. The hundred miles I drove today showed an increase of about 2mpg but this could easily be due to road conditions despite this being my usual commute. The tires do feel as if they roll much easier than the Kumhos though not nearly as easy as the dB Super E-Spec or the Nokian i3 but what do you expect from a larger, wider luxary tire? I'll drive my normal commute tomorrow and compare MPG numbers from Monday. I'll update MPG numbers after break-in.

Appearance: I'm not sure how I feel about the appearance of the tire. I know this is not a concern for some people but there are those who care about how a tire looks after they spent so much money on new wheels. The tire is nice-looking despite the tread pattern being rather boring when compared to something like Pirelii or Nitto tires. The MXM4s feature a very large "rim protector" if that is what it is. It is the largest I've seen and looks rather odd at first but when viewed from a distance it makes the tire appear thinner (aspect ratio smaller) so it is kind of cool. I'll let you guys decide. See pics below.

Price: The price of the MXM4 is comparable or less than a lot of other high performance tires. I paid $139/ea. at Costco. TireRack.com sells them for $132/ea. Because they are Michelin there is always a $70 rebate floating around. Costco takes care of the rebate for you. Total out the door was $607 for the tires plus mounting, balancing, environmental fee etc..

Summary: Despite having driven just shy of 200 miles on these tires, I think I made a great choice and am enjoying the ride. As a bonus, the new tires now make my speedometer read accurately. No more 2mph off business. The confidence inspired by these tires is worth every penny. Especially after starting to hydroplane on my old tires during a freak thunderstorm yesterday.

For more information on the tire and to see TireRack.com tests (video) click the links below.

Michelin Primacy MXM4

Testing New Grand Touring All-Season Tires

 

Thanks, Mendel!

I will definitely be lowering the pressure. The ride is just so much smoother and quiet.

 

The MXV4 is a great tire with a long treadlife. I think they are rated UTQG 640? The rolling reistance may be higher than some of the other specialty tires but the long life helps lessen the economic gap. I'd be real curious to see how they stack up against the Nokian enTYRE and the Continental ConiProContact w/ eco plus. I just wish the Nokians were cheaper and were more widely available. I loved my Nokian i3s!

On the other hand, the $70 rebate from Michelin is tough to beat!

 

They went with it without a fuss because I had 17" wheels on the vehicle and they are the correct fitment for those wheels. If I had come in with the OEM 15" wheel and asked for an oddball size I'm sure they would have refused.

 

Thanks for your input. I have a feeling I'll suffer the same loss but it's worth it to me.

 

Thanks, man!

 

I've been complaining about my low MPG ever since I put the 17" wheels back on my car. I expected to get better MPG with the new tires but I have not. Today I went to put the 15s (dB Super E-Spec) back on to ensure nothing was wrong with the car and battery then I noticed this.

Despite the online tire size calculators stating the difference in size between the 185/65/15 and 215/45/17 is only 0.61%, this looks like a larger difference. Some of the difference is due to the Michelins being brand new and the Yokohamas being somewhat used but still. This is a good reason why new tires often drop MPG so significantly.

 

Oops! Now your praise is worth even more.